The ebook ante
If you own an ebook, you should at least be aware of the line of reasoning behind the Kindle Swindle campaign.
Ebooks, in particular the DRM therein, deprive users of rights they would have with a conventional book. For example, lending a book to someone, or selling the used copy, or donating it to a library.
Should you ever change your mind and switch to a different ebook platform, you are “locked in” to your current platform.
Well, not completely locked in. All you’d have to do is re-purchase all your DRM’d books. To help myself measure the magnitude of this, I went over all my Amazon purchaes to see what I’ve spent on DRM content.
My Kindle Ante is $64.11. Assuming other platforms have comparable prices, that’s about what I would have to pay to switch. Coming up with this number is a good exercise I’d recommend anyone with an ereader use to gain some perspective on the economic issues.
Complicating issues:
- Ebook prices have gone up, as publishers have wrested more control from Amazon. Some of the books in my library would cost more to replace than what I initially paid.
- But some of the books in my library I wouldn’t care to replace. Think of “easy reads” like what you’d pick up in an airport, read once, then never look at again.
- I have several zero-cost books, including ones from Cory Doctorow, Mur Lafferty, Rudy Rucker, and Bradley Denton, as well as a host of out-of-copyright books. These would likely be equally available on a different platform, though formatting issues might be better or worse.
Ebooks have different strengths and weaknesses. For example, it can be very useful to search for a name, to quickly find the place where someone was first mentioned in a book. The whole enterprise is still in its infancy, and many of its norms may be developing now. So however you choose to read and spend your reading dollars, it’s important to keep your eyes open.
What’s your ebook ante?